Hi Miles,

the big genoa is a lot of sail to drag around the stays. I use a technique to reduce this. As I swing into the tack and the sheet is released I begin to furl the sail. By the time I am head to wind the sail can pass the mast easily. Then as we fall off on the new tack I unroll the sail and  my crew has the new sheet loaded and in the self tailer I winch and unroll in unison.

Get the timing right and it works well. I can do it on my own using the auto tack function on my Ray Marine auto helm.

This save a lot of wear on the sail and avoids possible damage.

Regards

Danny

SM 299 Ocean Pearl

On Thu, 22 Nov 2018 at 05:54, smiles bernard smilesbernard@... [amelyachtowners] <amelyachtowners@...> wrote:

 

Thanks for this John!

I guess we will get smoother at tacking with a bit more practise 

Given my sheets are looking, well, ropey, I’ll try and get a single length ant try  the cow hitch for a while. If I do t like it I can always go back to 2 sheets and bowlines 

All the very best

Miles

On 21 Nov 2018, at 12:46, john.biohead@... [amelyachtowners] <amelyachtowners@...> wrote:

 

Miles,

   I purchased Annie with 16mm genoa sheets fastened to the sail with a cowhitch/larkshead.   I replaced the sheet shortly after purchase and found the knot was rock solid...no chance it would slip at all.  After an hour with a marlinspike I gave up and cut the knot.  I used a cowhitch/larkshead on the new line and it held fine, no slipage.  I untied the know after a year because I didn't like the way the line looked like it was bending as it left the knot under load.  I cut the line and used two bowlines, which I still have now.  

The bowlines do seem to catch on the forward lower shrouds and if the sail is allowed to flog during a tack the weight of the two knots seems to make things worse.    

Take home message:  cowhitch is smother, does not seem to slip once set, but I am concerned about concentrating force on a small point of the line.  Bowlines seem to spread the stress across a larger area of the rope, won't slip and have the benefit of being two separate sheets in the event of a failure near the knot/sail.  

                    Regards,  John

SV Annie  SM37

Le Marin Martinique